BEIJING — When the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily recently released a list of 50 foreigners who were instrumental in shaping modern China's development, it included one dramatist: Henrik Ibsen.

That the Norwegian playwright should rank alongside Marx, Lenin and Einstein is of little surprise. Indeed, Ibsen was a household name in China during the tumultuous first decades of the 20th century when intellectuals were striving to create a new Chinese culture. His early dramas, known as "problem plays," influenced numerous Chinese writers; it was at a 1928 conference on Ibsen's work that the Chinese word for spoken drama, as opposed to what had formerly been sung, was first coined. Ibsen's work was equally beloved by social reformers and became closely associated with the quest for individualism and women's rights.

This year marks the centenary of Ibsen's death and the Norwegian Ministry of Cultural Affairs has called for "Ibsen Year" celebrations around the world. One of the most enthusiastic responses has come from China, which is pulling out all the stops to commemorate the anniversary.

"I would think Ibsen had a much larger impact on China than anywhere else in the world," said a Nanjing University professor, He Chengzhou, by telephone from Oslo, where he had just been elected to the International Ibsen Committee.

Roughly a dozen different productions of Ibsen plays are being staged across China this year, including a Beijing opera-style production of "Peer Gynt" in Shanghai and a Shaoxing opera version of "Hedda Gabler" in Hangzhou. Beijing is in the midst of a "Forever Ibsen" festival which includes the Chinese premiere of "The Master Builder" (it closed here on Sept. 3, and will be in Hong Kong from Oct. 19 to 21 and in Shanghai from Nov. 8 to 12); a production by the People's Liberation Army Drama Company of "Ghosts," the first full length foreign play the company has ever staged, ending Sunday; and a National Theater Company production of "A Doll's House," from Sept. 17 to 22.

Ibsen was first introduced to China in 1907 by the prominent Chinese writer Lu Xun. A decade later, the influential revolutionary magazine New Youth devoted an entire issue to a translation of Ibsen's play "A Doll's House" and an article on "Ibsenism" penned by the renowned intellectual Hu Shi. Both article and play struck a powerful chord with young social reformers.

"Intellectuals then thought about how to save China because it was so backward and weak," said He. "They discussed how to modernize it and said they should begin with new individuals, new minds. So, they looked to Ibsen. Ibsenism was individualism in Hu Shi's mind."

Ibsen's realism and concern with social issues strongly influenced the first Chinese dramatists to write spoken dramas. Successive playwrights continued to be inspired by his works, including two of China's greatest dramatists, Tian Han and Cao Yu. Cao Yu, who had read all of Ibsen's work by the age of 19, directed and performed in several Ibsen productions in his effort to popularize his idol's work. Critics cite Ibsen's influence on Cao Yu's dark trilogy "Thunderstorm," "Sunrise," and "Wilderness," which were written in the 1930s and remain a standard part of China's theatrical repertoire.

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"A Doll's House," Ibsen's portrayal of an unhappily married woman named Nora who leaves her husband and children for a life of uncertain independence, was an instant sensation in China. It spawned a whole class of early feminists known as "Chinese Noras." Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing, played the role of Nora in her premarital days as a Shanghai actress.

Jiang Qing's affinity for Nora perhaps helps explain why the "bourgeois" Ibsen was never wholly condemned or banned during the extreme days of Communism and why segments of "A Doll's House" remained in Chinese textbooks through the 1970s. When China reopened to the West in the 1980s, other playwrights began to compete with Ibsen for popularity.

But, thanks to celebrations of his 100th anniversary, Ibsen is once again shining brightly in Chinese theater. And while his realistic plays continue to be most popular, artists and audiences alike are finding value in the more challenging symbolic works of his later years, among them "The Master Builder."

"For so many years there was only one Ibsen dish on the menu," said Cheung Fei, who worked with the director Lin Zhaohua to produce the Chinese premiere of "The Master Builder." "To just do the realistic plays limits your vision and the vision of the audience. 'The Master Builder' is symbolic and it is about the mental world - and it is very relevant to China today."

"The Master Builder" stars Pu Cunxin, a renowned actor, as the materially successful but spiritually impoverished architect Halvard Solness, whose world is upended when a young woman appears to demand the kingdom he promised her when she was a child. The play is a psychological drama - performed here with no curtain or intermission. It ends with the woman encouraging the acrophobic Solness to overcome his fears by climbing a tower. He makes it to the top, but then plummets to his death, leaving the audience to wonder if he fell or jumped, was murdered or liberated. Indeed, the warm response to the challenging drama seemed to prove that Ibsen's later works are as relevant to Chinese audiences in the 21st century as his early works were to those in the last century.

"You see many shadows of 'The Master Builder' in China," said Cheung. "So many people here are trying to be successful - it's the China dream. They want money, fame, houses, cars." But "there isn't a balance between material success and spiritual content. This play is a reminder to them that they had better start thinking about other things."